As a faculty at Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, Kerala and prior to that as a postdoctoral scholar as well as a PhD student, I had numerous opportunities both official and informal in teaching many undergraduate and graduate students different Physics courses as well as topics pertaining to my research. During my tenure as an Assistant Professor I have taught Classical Mechanics, Mathematical Methods, Computational Physics and a module of the Research Methodology Course. During my postdoctoral research career, I have devised projects for a Computational Physics Course as well advised many undergraduate and graduate students regarding various topics on computational methods and soft matter Physics.
During my PhD at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, I conducted several tutorial sessions helping Undergraduate level Physics students to solve Homework and Exam problems based on a Classical Mechanics course and an Introductory Physics with Calculus Course. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Oregon, Eugene, USA, I had the opportunity to teach various Tutorial Classes and conduct help sessions for Undergraduate Physics students taking Calculus- based Introductory Physics Courses (at the level of Halliday & Resnick). I also taught the Lab version of this Introductory Physics Course. While preparing for the tutorial and Lab sessions, I was able to refresh my knowledge and obtain a deeper conceptual understanding of fundamental Physics. Interacting with students also helped me understand their learning problems and also honed by teaching skills such that at the end of two years of teaching I was able to reach out to the weakest students and help them to develop with their problem-solving skills and make them understand the basic concepts.
Based on my research interests and past teaching experience, I would be interested in teaching most Undergraduate Physics Course at your Institute as well as the core post-graduate courses. I am a theoretical Physicist and would prefer to teach theory courses, nevertheless, I would also be willing to teach undergraduate Physics Lab Courses. The Courses I would most like to teach are Classical Mechanics, Heat & Thermodynamics, Electricity & Magnetism or Electrodynamics, Modern Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics, Mathematical Methods, Numerical Methods and Computational Physics. Since my research involves topics related to Phase transitions, nucleation and surface phenomena as well as Brownian motion, I would be very much interested in teaching courses on Soft Matter Theory and Simulations and Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics . I would also like to offer a course on Molecular Simulations, where various molecular simulations technique such as Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics are taught. The Soft Matter and Molecular Simulations course, would benefit students from various Science as well as Engineering disciplines.
I believe research and teaching go hand in hand and one of the ways to enhance the learningexperience of students is to incorporate simple problems arising out of my research into the coursework so that they gain the knowledge and experience of solving a real world problem as well. This will also provide them with an impetus to try a research career if they are so inclined. Another novel teaching effort by me would be to integrate computational projects into the various courses that I teach, to help the students develop a deeper understanding of their problem and also help them in their pursuit of a career even beyond science and engineering, if they so desire. Through my mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, I find teaching to be a rewarding experience and stimulating young minds to think creatively also benefits my research activity when they ask novel questions and find interesting and new ways of looking at a problem. My passion for my research and interest in teaching motivate me to pursue a academic career in your esteemed Institute.